A report from the Wall Street Journal on Florida. "James and Laura Molinari left Chicago for a two-story stucco home in this city’s historic Flamingo Park neighborhood. The four-bedroom house was a short bridge away from Palm Beach island and walking distance to downtown West Palm Beach. 'The for-sale signs are going up left and right,' James said of the neighborhood. The renewal for his home insurance arrived. The new rate for the year starting in September was around $121,000—more than seven times what the Molinaris said they paid last year, and more than 13 times what they paid when the family moved to Florida in 2019."

"While they found a better rate from another insurer, at about $33,000 it is still nearly double what they paid last year. The family this month listed the home for sale with an asking price of nearly $3.5 million after determining that insurance costs made staying there too expensive. Others in Flamingo Park told The Wall Street Journal they are drawing the same conclusion. Some premiums have increased by about nine times what they were last year, according to Oscar Seikaly, chief executive of NSI Insurance Group, who said he has handled insurance premiums that cost as much as $600,000 a year for multimillion-dollar homes. 'When you have a home that’s one million dollars or less, your insurance premium becomes higher than your mortgage,' he said."

"Scott Smith, 51, moved to the neighborhood from Atlanta three years ago. His insurance doubled to around $14,000 this year. When he first moved to Florida, he was surprised to learn that his insurer in Atlanta didn’t operate in the state. If he is unable to bring down his premium this year, he says he will probably have to sell. 'This is robbery,' he said, adding that he paid only about $2,000 in insurance for a $2 million home in Atlanta. 'Between taxes and home insurance, it is more than what we pay in our mortgage.'"

The Real Deal on New York. "Nine years ago, Annie Leibovitz probably couldn’t picture selling her Upper West Side duplex for significantly less than she paid for it. The famed photographer put her co-op on the market for $8.6 million, the New York Times reported. Leibovitz purchased the unit at the Brentmore at 88 Central Park West for $11.3 million in 2014. The pad overlooks Central Park, a motivator when Leibovitz first saw the apartment a decade ago. Leibovitz updated the apartment after purchasing it, though many pre-war details remain. Monthly maintenance for the unit is $10,307. The co-op’s discount from nine years ago adds to recent evidence that the city’s storied co-ops are losing some of their luster. Trophy co-ops are either languishing on the market or selling for pennies on the dollar as wealthy buyers flock to condos with their fresher amenities and less restrictive entry requirements."

ABC 7 Los Angeles in California. "A Carson couple is facing foreclosure because of what's known as a 'zombie loan.' That term refers to a second mortgage that seemed to have been forgiven or written off - until years later when a collector reaches out about the unknown, but supposedly unpaid, debt. Such confusion over mortgages has led to a surprise massive bill that Adaina Brown and her husband can't pay. Brown says they are living in what was supposed to be her dream home. Now she's worried she might lose it. 'It kind of just broke my heart. I told my husband I can't take another thing,' says Brown."

"She and her husband bought the house in 2007. They needed a first and second mortgage. When the housing market crashed she says the mortgages were transferred several times to new companies. She says her original lender eventually charged off the second loan. But then it showed up with a new company. 'Ultimately the goal is to keep it but I don't have $200,000 to keep this house. I don't have money for a lawyer. And I don't want a foreclosure on my record either you know, so it's just like we're in a lose-lose situation,' says Brown."

The Denton Record Chronicle in Texas. "New cycle highs for mortgage rates continue to eat into demand for real estate. As mortgage rates pushed above 7.5% last month, home sales and prices moved lower. Closed sales in the city of Denton fell 10% year-over-year. Pending contracts slid by 20%. Median home prices in Denton slid 5.9% from a year ago. Average prices fell 4.2%. With a more seasonal pattern back in play, median prices in Denton are nearly $40,000 lower than the bubble peak experienced in the summer of 2022."

"Major incentives from homebuilders put downward pressure on prices for the better part of the year. New home builders continued to pull in an outsized portion of sales. Builders have been finding buyers by spending anywhere from 5% to 9% of the sale price to make the payments work. That includes major rate buy-downs and other incentives. The North Texas market has experienced a steady trend of softening new construction prices since the summer of last year. A brief bump early in the year didn’t last long after mortgage rates continued to rise. The softening market has also forced many existing homeowners to come to grips with what they are really selling."

The Texas Standard. "Major Texas cities like Houston, Dallas and Austin rank among the top places in the U.S. when it comes to office vacancies, according to reporting by Konrad Putzier. He’s a reporter with the Wall Street Journal. Texas Standard: According to your reporting, Houston, Dallas and Austin all had about 25% of their available office space empty. How does that compare with other cities and why so much empty space in Texas? Konrad Putzier: So Texas actually has the highest leasing vacancy rates in the country, and they’re by some measure worse than San Francisco, worse than New York, which is surprising.'what you have is the sort of mix where remote work is still impacting cities in Texas, even if they’re doing relatively well. There’s still remote work as an issue. And on top of that, you have this oversupply, this glut of office buildings. And you take those two things together and you have a lot of leasing vacancies."

From Bloomberg. "A joint venture tied to a Pacific Investment Management Co. fund surrendered a portfolio of 20 hotels with a $240 million mortgage. The properties, located in cities including San Antonio and Carmel, Indiana, were forfeited in a deal that closed in September, according to commentary filed this week by the loan’s servicer. The Pimco portfolio, valued at $326 million when the debt was originated in 2017, was cut 16% to $272.8 million in a December appraisal. Wall Street investors including Blackstone Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. have defaulted on money-losing properties rather than continue to pay the debt on them."

"For hotels, rising operating and capital improvement costs have cut into income. Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. said in July that it would likely return 19 hotels to lenders, while Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. stopped making payments on two San Francisco properties. Pimco defaulted on a portfolio of office buildings with $1.7 billion of debt earlier this year but continues to negotiate with lenders 'as to the best path forward to maximize recovery,' according to a commentary on the commercial mortgage-backed security. Pimco has also been raising money for a new commercial real estate debt fund that seeks to take advantage of market distress as $2 trillion of existing commercial real estate loans are set to mature within five years, according to a presentation to the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System."

CTV News in Canada. "Steve Nguyen runs two Airbnb units in a downtown Victoria apartment building. He says he’s still reeling from the news he soon won't be able to operate it as a short-term rental -- since he doesn’t live there. 'This news is a huge, huge shock,' he said Tuesday. 'The equity that I’ve worked so hard for in these units has vanished in a day.' Nguyen says he makes enough by renting out his unit on Airbnb to cover its mortgage -- even with interest rates spiking -- but because the unit is so small (less than 400 square feet), it’s not attractive for long-term rentals, and wouldn’t fetch enough to cover his mortgage, which is more than $3,000 a month. 'You cannot make the numbers work – you’re better off putting your money in a GIC.'"

"He says, as a result, he's forced to sell the loft unit, but plans to list it for $150,000 less than he bought it for a year ago -- its value walloped because in a matter of months, it will no longer be useable in most cases as an Airbnb. 'The revenue stream dictates the value,' he said, noting that revenue stream will soon dry up for short-term rentals – which had been earning him between $80 and $225 per night. Paul Nursey with Destination Greater Victoria, says the city’s tourism industry supports the new short-term rental rules. 'People own two, four, six, 20, 40, 60 units -- and that takes away from housing for our residents—including for our workers,' said Nursey."

The Vancouver Sun in Canada. "Many Airbnb operators and property managers say the B.C. NDP government’s proposed crackdown on short-term rentals will kill their business or wipe out their retirement investment. 'I just hope my investment doesn’t come crashing down on me,' said Debra Sheets, who operates an Airbnb in the Janion building, which overlooks the Johnson Street Bridge in downtown Victoria. Sheets, whose principal residence is in a rental home in James Bay, purchased the 250-square-foot unit in 2017 with the intent of renting it on Airbnb to fund her retirement. Sheets estimates 90 out of the 120 microlofts in the Janion building are short-term rentals. She said the tiny studio apartments aren’t well-suited to long-term rentals. 'I don’t have deep pockets,' said the 66-year-old, who recently retired as a professor at the University of Victoria’s school of nursing. 'It’s going to be quite a hardship.'"

"Laura Klein, owner of a Victoria-based property management company called Co-Hosts, said the proposed legislation will wipe out her business, which employs 20 people. The company has 65 units in its portfolio, the majority of which are short-term rentals and several of which are located in the Janion. In the last 24 hours, she’s been inundated with calls from her clients, all of whom would be impacted by the proposed rules that would come into effect May 1. 'It’s total panic,' she said. 'It’s just absolutely financially devastating to them.'"

ABC New in Australia. "Residents in the mining hub of Mount Isa are taking stock after Glencore announced it would close its Mount Isa copper mine in 2025. At least 1,200 employees will be impacted directly by the closure of one of the biggest copper operations in the country and many more are expected to feel the blow to an economy which has been sustained by the copper mine for 60 years. Home owners had been lighting up the phones at local real estate agent City & Country Realty, concerned about a decline in the property market should mass numbers of residents and businesses affected by the closure leave the town, owner John Tully said."

"'People are definitely panicking but our message to our clients is one of calm until this decision is a little more planned out and we know more details … panic is not the right way to go,' he said."

From Reuters. "A Country Garden $15 million coupon payment deadline has expired without word of payment, fuelling expectations that China's biggest private property developer has defaulted on its offshore debt as the nation's real estate woes deepen. Non-payment would trigger cross defaults in other Country Garden bonds as is standard in bond contracts. The company has almost $11 billion of offshore bonds and a default would set the stage for one of China's biggest corporate debt restructurings."

"One bondholder of the tranche in question, who declined to be identified discussing confidential information, said he had not received payment on the coupon as a 30-day grace period ended. Its dollar bonds are currently worth about 6 cents compared with 70 cents at the start of the year, according to LSEG data, and bondholders say they expect the debt to be restructured. 'We are ready to walk away with some losses, but just hope the restructuring process could be efficient and less painful when compared to other companies like Evergrande,' said a U.S. asset manager who holds Country Garden's dollar bonds and declined to be identified."